Deaths Elsewhere

Deaths Elsewhere

March 06, 2003

Harold Amos, 84, professor emeritus of microbiology and molecular genetics at Harvard Medical School and the school's first African-American department chairman, died Feb. 27 at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston from complications of a stroke.

Dr. Amos was highly regarded as a researcher and teacher, and a friend as well as a mentor to hundreds of young people, especially minority scientists.

In 1958, he discovered that a compound once considered only in relation to DNA -- the carrier of genetic information -- also was present in RNA, the ribonucleic acid concerned with the transfer of amino acids.

In 1963, he was named to a tenured post as associate professor of bacteriology and immunology. His research focused on aspects of bacterial metabolism.

Although he chose a career in science, he was accomplished and interested in many other fields, said his brother Howard Amos of Pennsauken, N.J. He could have taught mathematics or literature, his brother said, and excelled as a classical pianist, a violinist and a tennis player.

Kenneth Auchincloss, 65, a longtime editor at Newsweek who oversaw the magazine's coverage of the last five presidential elections, died Tuesday at his New York home from cancer, said Newsweek Chairman and editor in chief Richard M. Smith and Editor Mark Whitaker.

"He was one of the true founding fathers of the modern Newsweek, and he took on every challenge -- from guiding the magazine through difficult editorial transitions in the '70s to writing innumerable late-breaking cover stories, to offering wise counsel to top editors and junior staffers alike -- with style and distinction," Smith and Whitaker said in a statement.

Auchincloss joined Newsweek in 1966 as a writer in the international section of the U.S. edition and later moved to the national affairs department, where he rose to senior editor. He became executive editor of Newsweek's U.S. edition and was managing editor from 1975 to 1996. He was named editor at large in 1996. He retired last year but returned to edit Newsweek's education guides and international special editions.